Las Luchadoras Contra el Robot Asesino (Mexico 1969)

Rating:*Review Date: 5/5/15
Cast: Regina Torne, Malu Reyes

A mad scientist is trying to develop a mind control device that will allow
him to enslave the human race. Unfortunately, his experiments aren't going so
well, so he sends his killer robot out to kidnap some leading scientists to
help him with his work. One of the victims turns out to be the uncle of a
female wrestler named Gaby (Regina Torne), and Gaby just happens to be dating
a policeman. After a couple of close calls with the killer robot, they deduce
who the bad guy is and go after him. By the time they track him down, he has
already completed his mind control device and he uses it to send a deadly female
wrestler with the strength of an ape against our heroes.

Like many Mexican movies, the production values are exceedingly low and the
effects are appallingly cheap. However, the actors are all quite charming
and fun to watch. Regina Torne is very pretty and her lively presence
lights up the screen. The late 1960's fashions are also a total blast.
The mad scientist is very entertaining, and is arguably
the best actor in the cast. The action is light and so is the humor, and the
whole thing amounts to little more than family friendly fluff. Much to my
surprise, the DVD isn't subtitled, so I had to employ my remedial knowledge
of high school Spanish to try and figure out the details of the plot.

Sadly, the film has several things going against it that tend to
spoil the fun factor. First of all, the title is a bit of a misnomer. While
the film does feature female wrestlers and a killer robot, they never actually
confront each other. In fact, I don't quite understand the wrestling angle at all.
There are about a half dozen wrestling matches randomly inserted into the film,
which appear to serve no purpose at all. Except that wrestling is awesome,
right? The one match featuring Malu Reyes is
particularly dreadful as it plays out way too long, and the same footage is
repeated 3-4 times. At first it's laughable, and then it becomes unbearable.
And speaking of repeated footage, when Gaby and her boyfriend have a flashback
regarding an important clue, they play back THE ENTIRE scene, which is like
three minutes long. It's excruciating. The film is also missing about five minutes of footage at
the end, and freezes on recycled audience footage while the audio continues
to play. Very strange. And finally, the director is extremely fond of
two particular wipe techniques and overuses them to the point of absurdity.
One is just a simple pan across a paint splattered wall (?) and the other is
having the actors walk straight into the camera until it blacks out. That's
a transition you can use maybe three times before it gets tiresome, but this
film uses it all over the place. So, with all that said, if you have a thing
for Mexican wrestling movies, this is a mildly entertaining film whose potential
is spoiled by low production values and questionable editing.